Governor installs 12-member public integrity task force

Governor Deval Patrick announced the appointment of a 12-member public integrity task force yesterday that will include lawmakers, good government advocates, and ethicists.

The task force includes Kimberly Budd, director of the Community Values Program at Harvard Business School; Scott Harshbarger, former state attorney general; and Joseph Savage, former chief of the Public Corruption and Special Prosecutions Unit for the US attorney's office.

"The members of this task force offer a broad range of professional backgrounds and experience," Patrick said in a statement. "All of them share a commitment to ensuring the highest standards of honesty and public integrity."

Appointment of the task force - led by the governor's chief legal counsel, Ben Clements - was prompted by the rash of ethics and legal issues unfolding around Beacon Hill. One case involved the arrest of state Senator Dianne Wilkerson last week on public corruption charges.

Task force members will study regulations that govern ethics, lobbying, and public employee conduct and seek input from public officials, specialists, and the public, according to a press release from the governor's office. After 60 days, the task force will make recommendations to strengthen current laws, regulations, investigative and enforcement mechanisms, and penalties, according to the release.

Other members appointed to the task force include Pamela Wilmot, executive director of Common Cause Massachusetts; Charles Baker, chief executive of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care; professor George Brown of Boston College Law School, a government ethics specialist; Peter Sturges, former executive director of the State Ethics Commission; and Andrew Tarsy, former New England director of the Anti-Defamation League.

It will also include four members of the Legislature: Senator Benjamin Downing, Democrat of Pittsfield and chairman of the Committee on Ethics and Rules; Senator Michael Knapik, Republican of Westfield and a member of the Senate Ethics Committee; Representative James Fagan, Democrat of Taunton and chairman of the House Committee on Ethics; and Representative Mary Rogeness, Republican of Longmeadow and a member of the House Ethics Committee.